Friday, January 27, 2012

Book Preview: Preppers Road March
A new book from Mr. Ron Foster (aka @solarprepper on Twitter); Preppers Road March. Here is a brief synopsis and a video preview:

A solar storm has just hit the world, causing an EMP event. An emergency manager visiting Atlanta must find his way back home after the pulse strands him away from his vehicle and beloved “bug out bag.” With 180 miles to go to his destination, David must let his street smarts and survival skills kick in as food and water becomes scarce and societal breakdown proceeds at an unrelenting pace. An interesting and often funny cast of characters from the Deep South helps the displaced Prepper on his way, as he shares his knowledge of how to make do with common items in order to live another day.

I enjoyed Preppers Road March, which is book 1 in the Preppers Trilogy by Ron Foster. For more information about Ron Please visit his blog. This is my favorite genre of fiction right now. As I talked about in my review of the latest Rawles book I appreciate a great read, but it is also nice to have a good reference book.

I think I may have worn out a highlighter on the first read through of Book 1. There are so many hints, tips, and good knowledge that it could easily be a reference manual. The part that truly makes it a home run is that it was woven with great Character development and storyline.

Without trying to get too much into the book an Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) has hit earth from a solar flare from our sun. It has killed any electronics around the world. Our poor displaced prepper is 180 miles away from home and without his supplies.

Ron has done a great job getting the character home and the main character dispenses knowledge along the way. The secondary character development is awesome as I could picture a lot of these people in my head. That is a hallmark of good writing in my opinion.

There are only two things that I really would consider as a negative in the book. First there was some consumption of alcoholic beverages, which we know will happen if an EMP ever hits. The part that was a little disconcerting for me was the Lead character imbibed. Given his level of knowledge and experiences was a little out of norm.

The second thing that was a little problematic was the lack of any real criminal drama happening. I can understand the author not wanting to focus on any negative aspects and the distraction it could cause if an event happens. There is still plenty of warnings of criminal situations, but none that our lead character had to overcome.

I was thrilled when Ron sent me several books to give away on the blog as now you can get a taste of his writing. We gave the first one away this past week and the 2nd chance giveaway will be this Thursday based on random drawings from comments.

I have already dived into Book 2 and I think Bracken has some competition for top of the pack in the Survival Fiction genre. The elevation of writing talent in this genre bodes well for future readers.